Right Where He Wants Us

I find that I am constantly amazed at how the Lord works in patterns. When I read in the scriptures, it is so blatant all that He does for us. And He doesn't just do it once. He does it again and again and again. Take Joseph of Egypt, for example. Poor Joseph is imprisoned time and again. He was never guilty of anything, but he was consistently put in jail or servitude. I'm sure he must have thought at times, "why me?" But there were things that he needed to learn through his experiences. Things that the Lord needed to teach him, as well as the fact that Joseph needed to be in that jail, so that he could interpret the dream of the butler, so that he could then interpret Pharaoh's dream and save his family from the famine. There is a reason for the patterns in our lives. I know that I don't see the why behind what happens in my life at first, but I almost always do later.

In class we compared the people of Moses to the pioneers. I had thought about this before, about how the Mormon pioneers had made a trip like the people of Moses. Actually, I had thought about it with Lehi's family, as well. It is incredible to me how this pattern is so prevalent across time with the people that the Lord calls. He asks them to gather and then asks them to move until they are right where He wants them to be. I can't imagine the sacrifice that must have taken for the pioneers. Many times they had to leave their extended families behind to go be with the saints wherever they were. They gave up their whole lives to follow what a prophet had asked them to do. I thought that serving a mission was a sacrifice, but I got to come back to my life and my family and all that I had known before. The pioneers didn't. While I cannot even imagine that kind of sacrifice right now, I am grateful for all that they did sacrifice so that I could have the gospel in my life and the joy it brings me.